Ricky Gervais Breaks Silence on Golden Globes Hosting Controversy

"Everyone took it well," he says of his onstage jabs, "and the atmosphere backstage and at the after show was great."

Ricky Gervais says he didn't offend anyone at the Golden Globes.

"Everyone took it well and the atmosphere backstage and at the after show was great," the host said in a statement. Review: Final critics' assessment

Gervais also explained his mysterious disappearance in the middle of the show, which caused rampant speculation he'd been fired by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

"I did every single introduction I was meant to," he says. "There just happened to be a long gap. This is because I was allowed to choose who I would introduce in advance. I obviously chose presenters who I had the best jokes for. (And who I knew had a good sense of humor)." Photos: Golden Globe parties

But the stars didn't seem to agree with Gervais' analysis of his hosting performance.

After Gervais quipped that Robert Downey Jr. was best known for his trips to the betty Ford Center, Downey Jr. said the show was "hugely mean-spirited with mildly sinister undertones."

HFPA president Philip Berk said Gervais definitely crossed the line after Gervais introduced him by saying, "I just had to help him off the toilet and pop his teeth in."

"Some of the things he said were totally unacceptable," added Berk.

Admitted Gervais after the show: "I probably won't be here next year."